Last year, Cardless partnered with Simon Property Group to launch the Simon American Express Credit Card. While many retailers have long offered cobranded credit cards, many factors make the card a unique offering. Cardless’s modern technology platform and flexible issuing and rewards capability allow for features that are not typically possible with traditional banking partners. 

Leveraging modern technology infrastructure and machine learning, Cardless can deliver a real-time rewards platform that accommodates the complex requirements of supporting thousands of merchants.

Creating real-time rewards for 23,000 retailers

Traditional cobrand cards are designed around a single merchant. For example, a hotel credit card may offer an accelerated earnings structure at the hotel chain. Such cards may also offer an additional accelerated bonus category, dining perks, and a base earnings rate everywhere else. Certain premium cards in the travel or retail space may also offer status in the loyalty program or a similar benefit, like free shipping on e-commerce.

A unique challenge for a brand like Simon Malls is that consumers don’t purchase much from the mall itself–they make purchases at the mall’s retailers. At the same time, consumers exhibit loyalty toward making repeat visits to a specific shopping center. Simon Malls are visited annually by more than two billion shoppers and comprise more than 23,000 retailers. Simon shoppers visit the malls more than four times each month on average. 

This challenge led to the collaboration between Simon Malls and Cardless. Cardless completed an integration with Simon Malls systems, using real-time API connectivity to calculate rewards based on up-to-date merchant information across Simon’s entire retail footprint.

The Simon® American Express® Credit Card offers a straightforward earnings structure

• 5% Back if consumers shop at participating retailers*

• 3% Back on purchases with retailers at any Simon Mall, Mills, or Premium Outlet in the U.S.*

• 1.5% Back on in-store purchases using Apple Pay or Google Wallet*

• 1% Back everywhere else*

Plus, additional benefits include an opportunity for a sign-up bonus, which consumers can learn more about at https://www.cardless.com/cards/simon.

For simple and extensible rewards, there can be no technical limitations

While the earnings structure is easy for a cardholder to understand, compared to our hotel example, you can see that this is more complex to fulfill properly and requires a flexible but powerful rewards and loyalty engine. Instead of handling a single brand or accelerated category, the Simon American Express Credit Card combines a number of different retailers, some with both physical and online channels, online-only channels, and even the limited direct in-mall services that Simon provides, like Santa Claus visits and vending machines.

Chief Marketing Officers at national brands should not be constrained by the technical limitations of their credit card partners. The Simon Malls American Express Credit Card demonstrates that Cardless’s approach enables creative solutions for brands to engage their consumers in new ways.

Another example of the flexibility Cardless can provide to its partners is National Outlet Shopping Day weekend. This second annual event will occur on June 10th and 11th, 2023. Cardholders will earn double statement credits when they shop in-person at select retailers and Simon Premium Outlet or The Mills center purchases (up to $1,000 in statement credits during the promo weekend — Simon Malls are excluded and other terms apply) to celebrate outlet malls’ values and breadth of products.

Enabling this complete suite of rewards helps cardholders to feel rewarded at Simon Malls through accelerated earnings throughout the mall and with associated retailer partners. On the business partnership side, the card is a way for Simon Malls to show its tenants that it is more than a physical location but is a true partner in the success of its retail business. Simon is investing in rewards and loyalty benefits that accrue to their retailers and their retailers’ customers, generating a virtuous cycle of loyalty.

“Our collaboration with Cardless and American Express will make it possible to engage Simon shoppers in a whole new way, giving them the opportunity to shop more and earn more with the Simon credit card,” said Mikael Thygesen, Chief Marketing Officer, Simon. “It allows Simon and our tenants to understand our shoppers better and drive incremental sales.”